Angry Sea, Hidden Sands (The Grave Robbers' Chronicles) by Xu Lei

Author:Xu, Lei [Xu, Lei]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-07-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

THE TOMB BUILDER

Touching the back of my neck, I realized I itched in the spots where I'd been struck by the lotus arrows, where their hooks had clasped onto my skin. Although they hadn't hurt me, they had still scraped away some of my skin, and my neck itched as sweat ran into the lacerations.

A few other spots where the arrows hit my body became irritated but I had no time to consider the subtleties of these physical sensations. There was a chamber to explore and it would take all of my concentration.

I didn't know much about the underground tombs inhabited by commoners during the Ming dynasty. I had only studied about the tombs of noblemen and didn't know what differences there were between the two. I could only fumble about, comparing what lay before me with what I already knew.

Based on my knowledge, I was standing now in the left Identical Hall. The room facing me was the right Identical Hall. Both halls were exactly the same in every detail, so it was quite probable that there would be another white marble coffin platform in the right hall. The platform's surface was tiled with transparent glass bricks. Usually there was a rectangular opening in the middle of the platform that filled with yellowish brown silt called the "gold well," but I saw nothing like that here, only the huge pool.

This was only one of the unusual features of this chamber. The other was the door that separated the two halls. It should have led to the back chamber, which was where the coffin ought to be. But here the coffin had been placed in the left Identical Hall. Even more peculiar was that it had been made in the shape of a bathtub. This type of coffin was a product of the Warring States Period, and wasn't made during the Ming dynasty.

This made me think of the Bronze Fish with Snake Brows I took from the tomb of the Ruler of Dead Soldiers, another of which also was found here. Now here was a coffin from the same period as the tomb where I found the fish. Was there some connection between these two places or was this only a coincidence?

My mind was as confused as a bunch of tangled noodles and I decided to stop thinking for a while. I had walked around the pool and was back at the door where I had hurled the porcelain jar at the sea monkey. I picked it up and began to examine the painting that ornamented it. On it was a man in the dress of the Ming dynasty standing on a hill above a construction site with several people dressed in official garb. It looked as though they were inspecting a building project.

Judging from this picture, I decided that the owner of this tomb wasn't someone from the imperial family or the aristocracy but probably a craftsman or an architect. Only that kind of person would have the capability and the knowledge to build a tomb like this one.

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